


this world we live in (wasn't built for the living)

by Queen_of_Moons67



Series: Hardy Boys Crossovers [4]
Category: Hardy Boys - Franklin W. Dixon, Sword Art Online
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Agil snuck in like a boss, Alternate Universe - Sword Art Online Fusion, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Found Family, Frank needs a hug, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Joe Needs a Hug, Joe/Iola is in the past, Mass Murderers, Overprotective Frank, aka you can read without SAO knowledge, but it is HB focused, more details in the first chapter's AN, this is a crossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-15 21:53:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14798651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queen_of_Moons67/pseuds/Queen_of_Moons67
Summary: The last thing Frank and Joe expected was to find themselves trapped in the death game known as Sword Art Online: a Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game where if their avatars die, they die in real life. The only way out is through one hundred levels of Bosses, Player Killers, and emotional turmoil.





	1. Trapped in Aincrad

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bookdancer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bookdancer/gifts).



> Hi everyone! Guess who got pulled into another Hardy Boys crossover for her good friend Bookdancer? This will be a five chapter, 13k+ fic. It is finished, and I am in the middle of editing it right now, so more chapters will be coming soon.
> 
> For those of you HB fans who have not read or seen Sword Art Online, you can read this without that knowledge. None of the characters from that series/show are main characters in this fic (besides Agil, who managed to sneak into a main side character spot when I let my guard down, but he does get introduced). Any other characters who appear here (and they do exist, because this follows the SAO timeline so closely it's actually canon compliant) also get introductions. Any vocabulary and events are also described within the fic, with a few exceptions that are defined in the end notes. If you find one I missed, please let me know so I can fix it. Thanks, and enjoy!
> 
> WARNINGS:
> 
> \- This is not a happy fic. They are teens fighting in a death game, and that is made very clear. I have included happy moments scattered around to break up the sadness, but there is a reason my beta repeatedly sent me crying emojis. Please keep that in mind.
> 
> \- Language: typical of both teenage boys and soldiers.
> 
> \- Gore: canon typical of SAO and the Hardy Boys.
> 
> \- Canon character deaths for both SAO and the Hardy Boys (this takes place soon after Iola's death, and goes into detail about the way Joe deals with his grief).
> 
> I do not own the Hardy Boys or Sword Art Online. Bookdancer has permission to share this fic on their tumblr blog @bookdancerfics.

The Hardy Boys had managed, thanks to a case that took them to Japan, to snag not just one, but two copies of the new Sword Art Online game. Since then, they may have gone overboard in preparation. But then again, as Joe had said, they were the Hardy Boys! They couldn't just not match, Frank thought as he eagerly went through the motions of creating his character.

With that in mind, Frank picked out his outfit - black cargo pants with a red t-shirt, which as Joe put it, "went along with his brown eyes and hair to create a fiery image, it's definitely your colour, trust me on this, Frank," and would also go well with the blue t-shirt Joe picked out to match his "gorgeous eyes." Again, Joe's words, not Frank's. Once upon a time it would have been usual, but recently… Frank sighed, shaking the thought from his mind. That was why they had waited for SAO in the first place: to escape from real life and recent events; to try and heal. He wouldn't need to worry soon, hopefully.

Frank grinned wryly - or at least, he would have if he wasn't currently paralysed under his gear and not actually in possession of a body at the moment, though he had already designed one that resembled himself. He would never not worry about his little brother, that just wasn't possible with all that they got up to. And so, with the previous knowledge that Joe would pick the hand and a half sword for "aesthetics, Frank," Frank himself picked a wooden bō staff inlaid with carbon steel. Joe's sword would allow him to fight one-handed, which would make it easier for him to transfer his fencing skills, while also letting him use both hands if he needed to deal a stronger blow. Despite the whole thing with "aesthetics", Frank actually thought it was a smart choice for him, with one exception - it meant Joe would be fighting up close. Eventually, the elder brother would want a bow and arrows to be able to defend his brother from a distance. Until then, he would go the route proven time and time again - stick close to Joe's side, so that when he inevitably required help, there was no distance to cross. The staff would let him do that, as well as effectively keep enemies at a distance while he checked on his brother - not to mention it went perfectly with his martial art skills.

It didn't matter, Frank mused as whirling lights sent him to the SAO world, that this world was only virtual and no harm could come to them. He'd be ready to defend his brother in any world.

* * *

Frank appeared next to a large fountain in what looked like a town centre. A huge crowd bustled with excitement around him, some people chattering with neighbours while others rushed away. Even as Frank watched, three more people appeared out of thin air. His eyes lit up as he recognised one. "J- Orion!" he called, weaving his way around a man in a red bandana and an imposing woman to reach his brother's side.

The blonde man - like Frank, his chosen avatar greatly resembled his actual body - laughed and pulled his older brother into a short hug. "Theseus!" he greeted with a grin, a teasing lilt to his voice.

"Don't start," Frank rolled his eyes, "we chose our names together."

"Yeah, but you're the nerd who suggested we use the names of Poseidon's demigod sons."

"Famous brothers!" the elder Hardy boy protested - though admittedly not that much. He hadn't seen his younger brother so genuinely happy in months, so even if it came at his own expense, he would take it gladly (and ignore the constant reminder Joe had given himself with the name "Orion").

Joe just snorted and began moving towards the fields in the distance, saying, "Let's see what we can actually do."

With an identical snort, Frank followed.

* * *

Joe jumped out of the way of the charging boar with a yelp, the tusk swinging wide of his stomach. As he fell on his ass, Frank burst out laughing. Joe shot him a glare, leapt to his feet, and turned to face the boar again. Frank sobered instantly. While he knew nothing would actually happen if Joe was hurt or even killed within the game, his instincts refused to listen. Heart beating faster, blood pounding in his ears, he choked out, "Joe, wait -!" just as the boar charged once more. He belatedly realised he'd called his brother by his real name in the heat of his panic, something he'd have to work on changing, but he didn't have time to do more than that. Instead, Frank rushed forward as the boar burst into bright pixels, only momentarily hiding the red line across Joe's side. Even as the younger Hardy boy had pierced the boar through with his sword, the boar's tusk had scored him. As they both watched, the green box denoting Joe's health dipped until it rested just outside the yellow.

Frank let him have a minute, then gently asked, "Orion?" Joe hummed and blinked once in response, and that was when Frank realised Joe hadn't been watching his own health. His eyes were still on where the boar had died, and with a burst of painful understanding, Frank remembered the last time his little brother had seen something explode. "Joe?" he asked, voice even softer than before as he rested a hand on his brother's shoulder and hoped the use of his real name would get through to him.

Joe turned to look at him, blue eyes somehow wide and pained even when, physically, they didn't exist at all. That didn't matter. The emotional pain did, and - "Does that hurt?" Frank nodded towards the red, pixelated wound.

Joe blinked again, but shook his head and gave a small smile. "Naw, nothing hurts here, remember?" He didn't put much effort into the smile, and Frank didn't know if that made it better or worse. He did know they needed to talk about it, though.

"Joe, you don't have to pretend," Frank began, hoping his voice sounded soft but firm.

Maybe it did, but his little brother ignored it, giving a laugh as he said, "I'll take a healing potion if that'll make you feel better, you big worrywart; everyone starts out with some, remember?"

The laugh hurt worse than the smile, and Frank shook his head. Going through the motions on his own dash quickly, instructions from the manual clear in his memory, he handed Joe the potion and sat down on the grass. Now Joe frowned, but after looking around to make sure they were alone and there were no more boars nearby, he downed the potion and sat across from Frank. They watched his health climb back up to one hundred percent silently. When it finished, Frank didn't bother holding his punches. He'd been holding them for months now, but since his previous methods obviously weren't working, he was done with them.

"You miss Iola," he stated, and Joe's eyes widened - with shock, Frank figured, mixed with anger - before they lowered in grief.

"Wouldn't you?" he muttered, before his eyes widened again.

"You don't mean that," Frank hypothesised. "I may miss her less than you, but I do miss her, and you know that. All of Bayport misses her. She was sweet and kind and going places, and we all knew it." Joe opened his mouth, but Frank ignored him. His brother needed to hear this; the fact he'd chosen the name of Poseidon's son who was the infamous  _lover_  of Artemis was all the proof he needed. The fact Frank had had to force Joe to give up the name Theseus said even more - "come on, Joe, Theseus is the thinker, you have to let me have him," refusing to say "I won't let you take the name of the man who abandoned his lover, I won't let you do that to yourself." Now, he closely watched his brother as he said, "Iola is dead, and you loved her, and her death was not your fault. It was no one's fault but the man who killed her, and you caught him. You caught him, Joe, you avenged her, and now you have to let her go."

The corner of Joe's mouth wobbled as he fought back tears, and his voice was hoarse as if he'd already been crying when he said, "It's not that easy, Frank. You can't just tell me that and expect me to believe it. On some level, I know you're right. I know you're right, and I know Iola would," his voice cracked, "would want me to live for  _both_  of us, but I just keep seeing her and the car and -" the tears interrupted whatever Joe would have said next, and as he broke Frank caught him. Effortlessly, with seventeen years of practice, Frank caught his little brother in his arms, pulled him to himself, and held him as he cried. He said nothing, because he had nothing Joe wanted to hear that hadn't been said already, that couldn't be said with the hand threading through his hair and rubbing his back.

* * *

Joe wasn't sure how long he lay there in Frank's arms. When he eventually shifted, growing cold as the artificial sun began to go down and his face numb from crying, his brother helped him to his feet.

"Let's go to the town centre, yeah?" Frank asked. "We can pick up those fingerless gloves you were eying, don't think I didn't see you doing that."

Joe gave a laugh at that, a small smile working its way onto his lips. "Fashion, dear brother, is something even nerds like you must understand," he teased. Frank laughed in return, and smiled back. He was glad, Joe knew, to see him feeling better. And the best part was, it wasn't even faked. Something about this place - the fact it was virtual, that it was close to his real body but not quite, that no one else besides Frank knew who he really was - felt freeing. Joe felt better now than he had in a long time. Apparently, he had needed that cry for awhile, needed to hear the words Frank said. He had needed to confront reality, and what better place than a virtual one?

It was as that thought crossed his mind that the fields abruptly disappeared, replaced by the town centre.

* * *

If the red warning signs and the giant black grim reaper figure weren't enough to put the Hardy Boys on guard, the panicked reactions around them would have done the trick. Unfortunately, unlike the 'System Announcement's and 'Warning's, which had some English mixed in, the news articles and the announcement itself were all in Japanese since that was the only SAO server that had been released so far. Joe was quickly distracted from this when people started selecting mirrors from their control screens and changed into other people. Nudging Frank, he did the same, only to be surprised when his reflection rippled, but mostly stayed the same. Frank - Theseus - did the same, then looked out at the panicking crowds in befuddlement. Around them, children collapsed crying, dozens darted away into the streets, and hundreds looked to be either in shock or lost. The reaper had disappeared, and the red tiles slid aside to reveal a darkening sky.

"J- Orion," Frank corrected himself, "I think the mirrors revealed everyone's true selves."

Joe nodded. "I think you're right, but that's not nearly enough to cause this much confusion and panic. No, this is something more… but what?"

Frank opened his mouth to answer - or rather, hopelessly speculate - when a purposely cleared throat startled them both. Joe, still on edge from his breakdown and the mystery around them, whirled to face the noise's source and instead stumbled back, stopped from falling by a familiar hand on his shoulder. Frank helped him find his balance and then stepped up beside him to greet the newcomer - a tall, bald and bearded black man with muscles that, quite frankly, made the younger Hardy Boy jealous.

"Hello," the stranger said in English. "My name is Agil, and I couldn't help but notice that you don't seem to know what's happening?"

Frank gave a small, self-deprecating smile. "You could say that. Orion and I don't speak Japanese, so…"

The stranger - Agil - visibly started. "But you managed to get SAO?"

Joe grinned, "Yeah, we were in Japan for a family trip when they came out. Can you tell us what that reaper dude said?"

Agil smiled back grimly. "Sure, kid. But let's find a place to eat first, ok? You'll want to be sitting for this anyway."

* * *

"Wait, wait, wait," Joe interrupted, holding up a hand to stop Agil. "So you're saying the guy who created this game is basically a mass murderer who trapped all of us in this virtual reality, that if anyone removes our NerveGear we die, and the only way to make it out alive is to finish the game, but if we try that we might die here, and if we die here we die for real?"

"That's it."

"That's…" Frank shook his head, speechless.

"You're telling me," Agil sighed, then studied them closer. "Say, how old did you say you boys are?"

"We didn't," Joe replied. "But I'm seventeen and Theseus is eighteen, and I can already see you getting protective, fantastic."

That startled a laugh out of the older man, who held up his hands in the universal 'no offense' gesture. "You're ten years younger than me and you don't speak the same language as everyone else, of course I'm worried. You don't have the time to learn through immersion, and it's not safe enough to just wing it. I just want to offer you a better chance at survival, that's all. And yes, you'll have to put up with me going all papa bear over your asses. Sue me."

Joe sighed, never eager to accept another protective presence in his life - Frank, his parents, Aunt Trudy, Chet, Biff, Nancy, oh look he already reached his second hand - but turned to Frank. He would follow his brother's lead.

"We'll die quickly without help…" the elder Hardy Boy said slowly. "And I would love another person to help keep Orion alive."

"Hey!" Joe protested, while Agil barked out a laugh.

"What did you have in mind?" Frank asked.

* * *

Later that night, as he and Frank lay in their own bodies in virtual beds, Joe thought to himself that no matter how much he liked this world, that hadn't meant he wanted to be stuck in it with ten thousand other people. And yet somehow that was what had happened. Though thankfully, Agil had found them and promised to stick by them, at least until they could communicate relatively well with everyone else. Sighing and turning over to stare at the hotel window, he looked up at the moon. His last thought before he fell asleep was whether or not the creator of SAO, as inventively creative as he obviously was behind the whole death game thing, had made the moon out of cheese.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- I have seen the show (SAO), but I haven't read the manga and I don't play regular video games. Any details here are drawn from the show, the wiki, fanfics I've read, and my own imagination. Apologies if it isn't entirely accurate.
> 
> \- Some lines have been taken directly from the SAO anime. I've tried to use as few as possible, but if you recognise them, that's why.
> 
> Thank you for reading, and please comment! I had a great time writing this fic, and I'd love to know what you all think!


	2. The First Year

A month passed quickly with so much to do. They spent mornings hunting, questing, and building their skill set after Joe, the video game veteran, pointed out resources were limited. Afternoons went to helping others - pointing kids towards a shelter one woman created, spreading tips to help people survive, and, on occasion, solving simple mysteries. When the 15:00 bell rang, though, without fail Agil would pull them from their activity. They would spend the next hours eating and practising Japanese.

"You need to be able to survive on your own," Agil would often say, with that worried, almost paternal look in his eye.

"In case I die, you need to be able to communicate with everyone else so you don't go insane or die," is what Joe knew he really meant. He never said anything, though, just promised to do his best. It was the one time in the day he let himself be serious, let his worry shine through his joyful mask. Frank saw right through it anyway, of course, but it made himself feel better to put on the mask, and so Joe kept doing it. Not that it mattered much in the long run. Not when everything went to shit so quickly he could barely stand when it ended.

* * *

It started, like most things do, with politics. Someone named 'Diavel' sent out a message about a town meeting for the missing boss room. When they arrived, Joe found, much to his relief and pride, that a month of immersion and nightly lessons resulted in him understanding that Diavel's group had found said missing boss room without Agil's quiet translation. That faded quickly, though, when the politics entered the picture. Many of the words Joe couldn't catch, but he caught enough to know that Kibaou, an angry looking leader, basically accused the beta testers of negligent mass homicide. In a way, he understood where the man was coming from. The beta testers had experience none of the rest of them had, and none of them had revealed themselves. On the other, more logical and less hatred driven hand, though, was the fact that just because the beta testers remained anonymous didn't mean they weren't helping. They had, for example, created the guidebook Agil now brandished in their defense from where he had leapt to the centre of the meeting. Any information they had learned during the beta test was within those pages.

Trusting that the SAO creator hadn't changed anything was the reason everything went to shit.

* * *

Frank, Joe, and Agil created a party for the boss raid. It went well, up until the last moment when, instead of switching to a talwar sword like the guidebook stated, the Boss switched to a nodachi and, as a result, a completely different attack pattern. Diavel, not noticing, leapt forward anyway. "Wait!" Joe screamed, his obsession with swords noting the difference immediately. Another voice rang out in unison with him, but he didn't spare its owner a look. He couldn't, not if he wanted to save Diavel.

He sprinted forward, ignoring Frank's curse and Agil's audible groan behind him. Feet away, the nodachi intercepted Diavel and sent his body spinning into a corner. A blue and black blur ran after him, and so Joe focused on the Boss. He spun his sword in a circle once, tightened his grip, and leapt. The blur had Diavel, and Frank and Agil had Joe's back, and the rest of the parties had theirs. There was nothing to worry about.

* * *

There was everything to worry about. By the time the blur struck the final blow, Joe's health levels had dipped nearly to the red, Agil was barely in the green, and Frank actually was in the red, thanks to him taking a blow meant for Joe. Diavel was dead. Everyone was grateful, until they weren't. Until Kibaou turned on Joe and the blur - Kirito - and accused them of being beta testers who withheld information, resulting in Diavel's death.

Joe choked. "I'm a  _what_?" he yelped in unison with Frank and Agil's growls of "he is  _not_." The youngest in their party opened his mouth to expound upon this fact, but Kirito beat him to it with a long speech about how he had not only been a beta tester, but the  _best_  of them. Joe heard a faint slapping sound that he knew without looking was Frank face palming. If he could have focused on anything other than his blood sprinting through his veins, he might have done the same. As it was, he stood frozen and let Agil take over.

The man who had become like a second older brother in the past month said, "That's a ridiculous accusation with no backing, Kibaou. Orion has a background in video games and swords, yes, but not in SAO. He's no more a beta tester than the rest of you." The words were spoken in the same slow manner as during their lessons, allowing Theseus and Orion to understand Agil clearly. It had an unintended affect on their accusers, though. The steady and forceful words conveyed power and absolute belief. Looking around, Joe could tell some of Kibaou's followers were close to backing off.

Then Kibaou snorted, the hatred and disbelief clear on his face, and Joe knew: the man was beyond reason, unable to see past his feelings like a large number of criminals he and Frank had faced before. Kibaou would not,  _could_ not, change his mind.

"Enough," he whispered, and when Agil's frown hardened and he looked ready to continue, Joe cleared his throat and repeated, "Enough. Clearly," he looked Kibaou in the eye and held his gaze, taking strength from the startled fear he saw there, "you don't believe me. So, as beta testers," now he gestured to Kirito, who at least looked sorry for dooming both of them, "what would you have us do?"

Frank started, voice stern and cautious, "Orion -," but Agil held up a hand to stop him.

"Trust your brother, Theseus," he murmured loud enough for only the Hardy Boys to hear, for only to him had they trusted their real relationship. "It's the least any of us can ask for in this world."

Joe sent him a thankful look, but Agil shook his head, message clear: he would always have their backs, and Joe should expect nothing less.

"If you're done?" Kibaou asked, voice grating. When Joe looked to him, he laid down the law. "You cheaters, you beta testers, you  _beaters_ , are unwelcome in regular society. You work alone on the front lines. You owe the rest of us at least that much. Clear?"

The last words were too close to Agil's for comfort, but the youngest Hardy Boy nodded even as Kirito sniped back, "Crystal." With an expression of pure exasperation and satisfied anger, the actual 'beater' left.

Joe didn't bother looking to the rest of his party before he also withdrew. He knew they would, in turn, follow him out.

* * *

"What on earth were you thinking?" Frank cried once they were in the relative safety of their hotel room.

"We're not even on earth anymore," Joe grumbled back.

Agil frowned, but only looked at the blonde expectantly and asked, "What's your plan?"

"Plan?" Joe echoed, shrugging nonchalantly. "Follow Kibaou's rules. It's what we were planning on anyway, and Theseus and I have always worked alone. We work well with you, but you're still only one person, and we're used to incorporating one or two others in our work. But we wouldn't fit in a guild, so really, Kibaou gave us an excuse not to.

"With Floor Two now open, we can move there and start levelling up. We have enough money to buy better gear before we do, too. And you're welcome to join us, of course, but if you don't want to follow us into relative exile then we'll understand." He didn't bother suggesting that he leave alone, because he knew Frank would never allow it, the overprotective idiot.

As it was, Frank still stared at him and said in utter disbelief, "You just made that all up off the top of your head."

Joe shrugged and grinned. What could he say? He worked best under pressure.

Agil sighed, but nodded as he made a decision. "I'll follow you to Floor Two." The youngest Hardy Boy whooped, while the elder relaxed and mustered a small smile. "I'll start building skills necessary for merchants. I owned a cafe in real life, so it makes sense, and that way I'll have easy access to info to pass onto you two. You'll need it, if you'll be facing the front lines without a guild to back you."

Joe's enthusiasm dimmed slightly at that, but it made sense, so he nodded. Frank murmured, "Thank you, Agil. You've done so much for us, I don't know how we'll ever repay you."

"Get us home," the older man replied. "Just help get us home, and don't die."

* * *

Joe dreamed of Iola that night. She embraced him with fire and blood, and he woke with a kiss on his lips and tears on his cheeks. He would return home, if for nothing else than to see her grave one more time.

* * *

The days passed slowly after that. While they hadn't been going to parties or big dinners before, now the people willing to associate with the beater Orion and his partner Theseus had dropped to Agil, a guilty-feeling Kirito, and the desperate. Frank knew the actual beater wasn't the only one feeling that way. Joe felt guilty for framing himself after seeing the results, despite how often Frank and Agil had told him not to.

What made it all worth it, Frank insisted, was the fact that while people may not exactly trust them anymore, they did trust them to get jobs done: hence the desperate, willing to pay for lessons or guards on quests. It meant their clients gained experience and levelled up, while the Hardy Boys gained the same in addition to the money, which they exchanged for better armour and weapons. By the time they joined the Boss fight on the fifth floor a month after the first Boss fight, they had each acquired black leather gloves and boots, as well as black cargo jackets with reinforced chest, back, and shoulder plates. Their main weapons had been upgraded, and while Frank had yet to gain a bow and arrows, Joe had managed to amass four different daggers: two regular and two for throwing. Agil's shop, while still small, had been doing well. Like the Hardy Boys, he had added to his standard SAO outfit and upgraded his battle axe.

None of that mattered when one was dead on his feet.

Remarkably, Joe had slept well since the first Boss fight. Frank, on the other hand… He hid it well, to the point that only a dip or two in his health bar gave it away. He did his best to fix it, but his best meant nothing when he saw the same moment over and over when he closed his eyes. That first day in Aincrad, Joe standing against the boar. The circumstances differed night to night. Sometimes they knew about the death game already, and Frank cried over ruby pixels where his brother once stood. Other times they didn't, and Frank laughed and laughed and laughed till he cried, and  _then_  he knew, and then he sobbed. But whichever it was, one thing always stayed the same: Joe died, and he left Frank alone in a nightmare world. It was bound to affect him sometime.

The fifth Boss was big and quick, with no weapon but claws and a tail that spit long, sharp spines. Frank, running on too little sleep, was slow. Joe was not. One minute, the elder Hardy Boy stared into gold slitted eyes. The next, he stopped rolling with his little brother lying above him.

"ORION!" Agil roared. The older man was out of sight, all of Frank's view taken up by the slow fall of lashes over shock-filled blue. "THESEUS!" Frank could hear him, though - hear the whistle as his axe cut through air and, likely, one of the smaller body guards for the Boss. His own heart beat loudly in his ear, matched only by the pounding of his head and Agil screaming for them. It was strange, Frank thought. Agil, while never quiet, wasn't particularly loud either. This screaming, this desperation… Frank didn't like the change. He didn't like it, he wanted it to stop, and it was with that purpose in mind that Frank finally moved.

Reaching up, he rolled the dead weight on top of him off. He sat up, waited for the dizzying lights to still, and then halted in his tracks as his vision cleared to reveal Joe, pixels bleeding out around the gouge in his side. The spine impaling the ground a few meters away had somehow managed to cut open the exact same spot as the boar, only deeper and deadlier. The image from his nightmares flashed before Frank's eyes, but he let the sound of his knees cracking on the hard ground dispel it. "Joe!" he gasped, breathless from shock and worry, and reached for his little brother.

Agil got there first. The older man sheathed his axe, hauled the blonde teen into his arms, and nudged Frank towards the exit and safety. "Go!" he ordered. "The others can handle the Boss while you and Orion heal!" Frank ran, letting the sight of the door and the noise of Agil following him ground him.

They laid Joe down right outside the battle room, and yet by the time they administered the healing potion to Joe, his health bar had already fallen halfway through the red. Frank, his own health replenishing itself from dipping into yellow, held his little brother close. Agil stood watch at the door, though for what Frank didn't know: the Boss couldn't leave the battle room, and no one else would mean them harm. Perhaps, he thought as his fingers reflexively clenched in Joe's jacket, it was simply something for him to do.

* * *

It was a close call that day. Frank swore it would never happen again. Theseus would never freeze in battle, and so Orion would never again have reason to put himself between brother and death.

The elder Hardy Boy drew strength from the fact that, if he hadn't promised himself that, Agil would have withdrawn the promise when he confronted him that very night with a sleeping potion.

* * *

It took them two months to defeat five bosses, but by the time they reached the first of April the Clearers had reached level twenty-six. Frank and Joe, embroiled in a quest to finally add a bow and arrows to Theseus' armory, heard about the event through a message from Agil. The man, after five months in the death game, had by all rights become an elder brother to them. His store had reached a level where he learned news easily. He always passed on things like new levels being cleared, and he had a typical way of doing it: usually a celebration of some sorts, even when a raid had been led by Kibau and his guild, the Aincrad Liberation Squad. It was deviation from this that tipped them off.

Joe frowned, squinting at his message. "'25th floor cleared,'" he read. "'New guild called the Knights of the Blood Oath has been formed by Heathcliff. Good luck and get back safely.'" He turned to Frank, still frowning, and asked, "Does that seem off to you?"

Frank stayed silent for a moment, studying the same message in his own inbox. He didn't want to jump to conclusions, but… "Yes," he finally agreed, "but if Agil is holding back news, it's because he doesn't want to distract us."

Joe grumbled, "Now  _that_  is going to distract me," but Frank ignored him and, closing the message, continued on. They were on the final stage of the quest. With luck, they would be able to know more by the next afternoon.

* * *

Frank was right, and Joe hated it with a passion unusual for even him. The twenty-fifth floor had been more difficult than anything else they had faced, and Kibau had followed false information, taken a typically-sized raiding party, and come back with less than half of them. Over twenty people dead in both SAO and the real world, and to make matters worse, the remains of the Aincrad Liberation Squad had retreated. They hadn't lost so many people since their first days of being trapped. What was worse, though, was how it showed that all of their momentum could be halted with one large blow. It reminded them of how many more people they would lose before they cleared the entire game.

* * *

It took them another six months to clear fifteen more floors. At this rate, it would take them at least another two years to get home.

* * *

New Years was worse. They had been trapped in SAO for more than a year, had solved countless mysteries before that, and somehow, it took until then for the Hardy Boys to discover the worst of humanity.


	3. Laughing Coffin

The actual atrocity took place on New Year's Eve, but it was on New Year's that the bodies were discovered. The Knights of the Blood Oath summoned all of the top Clearers to a meeting, including Orion, Theseus, and Agil. A grim-faced Heathcliff greeted them when they arrived.

"A new guild has been formed," he declared. "They call themselves Laughing Coffin, and last night they murdered an entire guild while they celebrated the New Year."

Frank reeled in shock. There had been crimes committed in Aincrad before, of course, and Player Killers were a long tradition of video games, but this… this wasn't just killing the player, this was killing the person. Foolishly, he had assumed no one within SAO would stoop that low.

"The Clearers," Heathcliff continued, "will do their best to find the members of Laughing Coffin, but we have no way of finding them and the longer we stay in the game, the more people will die. Our priority remains the same as ever: Clear the game. Theseus and Orion," he turned to them, "you are the closest thing we have to detectives. I ask that you find out where Laughing Coffin's headquarters are. I know you've never had to solve something like this before, but it is no more dangerous than anything else you've done on the front lines. We have enough Clearers that I think we can spare the two of you for now."

Frank stared at him evenly, making sure that none of the panic and chaos within his mind showed on his face. "Let me talk to Orion," he replied. "We will give you our answer tomorrow." Beside him, Joe opened his mouth, but Frank stepped on his foot to stop him.

* * *

The building that Agil had bought months ago for his store had a second floor, and the three of them had turned it into as much of a home as they could have within the game. It was there that they argued.

"You can't seriously be thinking about not doing this?" Joe exploded the moment they closed the door. "A guild is dead, Theseus! An entire guild! Murdered! We have to find who did it, and we have to do it before they strike again!"

"Who says they will?" Frank asked. "This could have been a murder of passion, or at least done by someone that knew them and had a reason to."

"Then we have to bring them to justice!"

"The danger -" Frank began, but Joe interrupted him.

"The danger is no more than we face everyday, as Heathcliff already pointed out. You're just terrified because we're facing people and not bosses, and you think that I can't face another murderer." Frank's jaw dropped - he hadn't been thinking that at all - but his brother barrelled on. "Well, news flash, Theseus - I can. I'll never forget her, but if there's anything this place has taught me, it's how not to freeze in battle. I won't fail at this mission. I can't. If anything, not taking it will be failing her all over again. So with or without you, I'm going to find Laughing Coffin. It's your choice which it is."

With that, Joe stormed away to bed. Frank turned to face Agil, who had simply stood there the entire time, watching. "What's your opinion in all this?" he asked.

The older man regarded him silently for a moment, but eventually said, "I don't know who this 'her' you and Orion talk about is, or what happened in the real world. But I do know your brother knows himself, and if he says this won't break him, then it won't. Trust him, and trust yourself. I think you're more than capable of doing this. And remember - no one's asking you to go after Laughing Coffin alone. When you find them, I and the rest of the Clearers will be right behind you."

Frank nodded slowly, taking it all in, and watched as Agil also headed to bed. He had clearly been outvoted on the matter. And Agil was right - he could trust Joe. Turning into bed himself, he just hoped that would be enough.

* * *

Two nights later, Frank woke to the smell of smoke. Opening his eyes, he frowned as his vision remained blurred. Why was he crying? He reached up to touch the tears and blinked. He didn't remember having a nightmare, and - the smoke! Bolting out of bed and through his bedroom door, Frank found himself face to face with a wall of fire. Giving a cry, he stumbled back, then moved forward as he realised the fire was, for now, contained to the stairwell. "Orion!" he yelled, bursting through his younger brother's door. "Agil! Wake up!"

"Ugh…" Joe moaned, rolling over, "G' way, Frank…"

"Fire!" Frank snapped in reply, tugging the blankets down and yanking Joe up by his armpits. "Fire, Joe, come on, get up! We have to get Agil!"

This startled the younger detective up, his sleepy blue eyes becoming determined in seconds. "The stairwell?"

"No good," Frank replied, moving for Agil's door now that he knew Joe wouldn't go back to sleep. "We'll have to use the windows."

Entering the hallway, he found the older man already up. "Window?" he asked grimly, and Frank nodded.

"We'll have to jump."

Joe, who had remained in his room, called, "The window's been nailed shut from the outside!"

Taking no time, Agil quickly stepped into the room and smashed the glass with his axe. One by one, they jumped.

* * *

The jump itself was easy, as it was only from the second story, but the realisations they faced outside were not. Agil may have broken the window with his axe, but the knowledge that they could have easily been dizzy and close to passing out from smoke inhalation by the time they woke, unable to muster the strength and skills necessary to escape, remained. Someone had tried to kill them - in a success definitely not guaranteed way, but considering they lived in a safe zone, the best way they could. That the attempt happened two days after Heathcliff appointed them the detectives in the Laughing Coffin case, and a day after they accepted, was no coincidence. Laughing Coffin meant business, and considering they tried to kill them when the case had barely begun meant only that the guild would rely on fear and intimidation to get them off the case, while also lacking any morals against killing. That they knew it was the Hardy Boys who had been appointed meant the worst, though. Their names had never been released to the public. The Clearers had a spy among them. It was no longer just the right choice, but a necessity: Trusting Joe and Agil would have to be enough.

* * *

Agil moved his shop to the newly opened fiftieth floor and the city of Algade. Frank and Joe followed. The three of them would make their home in the city, but they wouldn't make the same mistake again - it would be a secret location, separate from the shop. They wouldn't be easy targets a second time.

* * *

By the time they reached the first week of March, they had no leads. More people had been murdered, but each time Laughing Coffin left no clues they could use. Somehow, they had hacked the system so that they couldn't even be identified by the red Player Killer life symbols typical to video games. There was one thing Joe could be thankful for, though, and that was that there had been no more attempts on their lives. Agil's shop, by virtue of the moral code developed in Aincrad, was off limits. He couldn't be touched there without a duel, and it would take a powerful player and for one of the red guild's members to reveal themselves to kill him like that. When they walked through Algade, they didn't walk alone - and if they had to, they did so with hoods up and senses tuned to the maximum skill they had grinded. Considering how little they knew in the investigation, all of the secrecy and precaution had zero negative impact on it. Of course, none of this helped the front line, either.

On March fifth, they received a message from Heathcliff: The Clearers had been stuck, unable to move forward, for nearly a week. There would be a strategy meeting the next morning, and they could use every Clearer they could get. That included Theseus and Orion, no matter how much Heathcliff hated to pull them from their mission.

At ten hundred hours on March sixth, the 56th Field Boss Strategy Meeting commenced. "As most of you know," Heathcliff began, "this boss is the GeoCrawler. A narrow mountain valley prevents us from flanking it, and quite frankly, we're lucky that we have an unbreakable gate guarding this NPC* village, or we wouldn't have a safe base and would be pushed back even farther. The GeoCrawler is the largest boss we've encountered yet, standing as tall as a single story building and more than twice as long as that. Large horns protect its head, and its shoulders, back, legs, and front are covered by armour. It's main weakness is its belly, but two plans on getting to it have been rejected so far. We need a third, and we need it now. The floor is now open to ideas." With an inviting spread of his arms, the Knights of the Blood Oath leader stepped back and several voices rushed forward to fill the empty space.

Typically, Joe would join them. At the moment, though, most of the other Clearers at the meeting had met the GeoCrawler in battle. No matter how detailed a briefing Heathcliff gave, the others had an advantage he lacked. He would wait to help develop plans once proposed and shoot down ones doomed to failure.

* * *

Miraculously, by the night of March seventh, the Clearers were spread over the valley staring at their rising points. Even more miraculously, no one had died. Asuna - a prominent leader among the Clearers and an acquaintance of theirs through Kiritio - had proposed putting the boss to sleep with a lullaby, and while Joe had thought the plan was implausible at first, looking around he couldn't deny that it had worked.

"You thought it was implausible?" Frank asked from behind him, and Joe whipped around to face him. Judging from the heat he could feel at the tips of his ears, he knew they were red from the embarrassment and guilt of being caught out.

"I didn't realise I said that out loud…" he hedged, and his older brother gave him a look.

"Orion, you said yesterday you thought it was a fantastic idea and gave it your, and I quote, 'full-hearted support'."

"Not to mention wondered why you hadn't thought of it yourself," Agil added as he came up to them, tapping his axe back into his armoury.

"Well, yeah, it was an awesome plan!" he cried. They both just looked at him, and he huffed. Two older brothers against one younger would never be fair. "Fine, it was implausible too, ok? I admit it. Good grief, you would think the two were exclusive," he said, tossing the last sentence over his shoulder as he walked off. He'd go find Klein and Kirito; they would understand him as fellow clearers and adrenaline rush lovers.

"That's cause they're just as reckless as you!" Frank called after him, and Joe huffed again. Then he glared at his energy levels for good measure, cause this was all their fault. It was only when they got low that he started saying everything out loud.

"Keep telling yourself that," Klein grinned, and he looked up in surprise to find his friend had found him first. "Aw, you were looking for me?"

Joe threw up his arms and walked away, Klein's laughter following him all the way to the teleport gate.

* * *

When they finally got their breakthrough for Laughing Coffin, it was less of a breakthrough and more heart-stopping luck. It was August, the front line had advanced to the 70th floor, and the red guild had officially become the number one threat to the Clearers after raising their kill count into the hundreds. Frank and Joe had been working more non-stop than usual, until finally Agil had enough. "Go out, have some fun," he insisted. "A few guilds are getting together for a party tonight in a clearing just outside the city, go act like typical teenagers."

After a few hours of this, both of the Hardy Boys caved - though Joe did make sure to tease, "We're adults now, Agil, you're just getting old!" as they left.

* * *

They arrived to the party late, and Joe frantically thought to himself that Frank could never complain about his stubbornness again, because if he'd caved to Agil any sooner they would be one of the bodies on the ground. They'd arrived on the tail end, but it's still painfully clear what had happened and what continued to happen. There were at least a dozen bodies on the ground, not dead yet but health stats quickly falling to zero with no chance of surviving. The grass sparkled with red pixels, but when Frank gripped his shoulder and pulled him down to hide among the bushes, it wasn't wet. Blood wasn't wet when it's from a virtual reality, and - Frank's grip tightened, the pressure startling Joe from his rapidly spiralling thoughts. His brother's other hand motioned in front of him, forming signs, and he interpreted them out of instinct and habit. "Hide. Silent. Wait. Follow." Simple and easy instructions, which he was grateful for in his current state of mind, but more dangerous than anything they'd ever done in SAO or reality. They had no chance of defeating the killers here, let alone in their headquarters if they got caught.

Joe turned a dubious look on his brother, question hopefully obvious: "Are you sure?" This wasn't what they'd signed up for, and Frank had barely agreed to that, and - Frank nodded, but he wasn't looking at Joe. Instead, his eyes tracked the five Laughing Coffin members as they danced and bounced around the field stabbing anyone who still lived.

Joe quietly nodded in understanding. Where there had once been almost twenty people, several of whom he counted as friends, only a few remained, and even as he watched they, too, vanished in a flurry of red pixels. The murderers laughed and bounced away in the direction of the teleportation gate, still high on the act of killing. This was the closest they'd ever been, and possibly the closest they'd ever be. This was the chance they'd been waiting for. If they didn't take it, they might lose Laughing Coffin forever. They might lose any chance of avenging the hundreds who had been murdered. He'd never be able to call himself a Hardy again.

Squeezing Frank's shoulder back, Joe rose and followed the demons to hell.

* * *

If Frank didn't have Joe with him, he would be dead. It was a simple fact, and he gladly acknowledged it. He needed the facts in order to be prepared for what lay ahead. One, it was only the instinct to protect his little brother that had overridden his fear of the massacre before him. Two, it was partially anger as well. While he had seen every Laughing Coffin crime scene - and there had been dozens of them - it was something else entirely to watch it happen. Three, while they were only following five members, there were bound to be more at the next stop. Four, the next stop was likely to be the floor of their headquarters. Five, Frank hoped it was, because if so, they could follow them there as well.

The elder Hardy boy paused his thoughts for a moment and focused on the backs they followed, far in the distance to minimise the chance of being caught.

Six, his emotions scared him at the moment. Seven, Laughing Coffin surviving any longer scared him more. Eight, there was no time to call for backup. They would be going in on their own. Nine, he might die tonight. Ten, Joe might die tonight. Eleven, while the first was a risk he was willing to take, the second wasn't, but Joe would never let him go alone.

Twelve - he glanced at his brother momentarily - Joe was firmly in his Orion headspace. The sight of the massacre had shocked him even more than it had Frank, and possibly sent him back to another day when he watched a loved one fall. He was back now and ready to fight, but it might take more than before to make him feel safe. Thirteen, it might take leaving Sword Art Online. Fourteen, Frank would do anything to make that happen. Fifteen, that was never a good philosophy to have, but right now, Frank didn't care.

The Laughing Coffin members reached the teleportation gate, requested a floor, and vanished.

Sixteen, they needed what floor the murderers just left for, and they needed it before anyone else used the gate. Frank broke into a run and, with the pounding of his brother's footsteps behind him, raced towards his possible death.

* * *

As it turned out, Hell was a large, nice cave in a dungeon on one of the lower floors. Frank and Joe crouched just outside, close enough to hear the celebrations within. There were at least twenty people, from the sound of it, and Joe was white at the thought. Five, even ten - ok. It hurt, but ok. At least twenty people who, after a year of fighting for survival with everyone else, turned to murder? He forced down bile and faced Frank, motioning back the way they had come. It was time to go. They had seen more than enough.

* * *

Enough, apparently, was never enough. As Heathcliff pointed out, they were expert clearers and the only ones who knew the way. They would lead the raiding party.

* * *

After the debrief, Joe dragged himself to bed, more exhausted than Frank had seen him for awhile. Frank stared after him, yearning to go to bed himself, but turned to Agil. They had messaged him on their way from Laughing Coffin's headquarters to Heathcliff, and he had stayed up waiting for them to come home.

Frank opened his mouth to apologise - for what, he wasn't sure, but he felt it was necessary - but Agil spoke first.

"You found Laughing Coffin." Frank nodded. "You went alone."

"Orion -"

"No, Theseus," Agil shook his head. "You and your brother have become my brothers within this game, and I know the two of you well enough to know that when it comes to human criminals, Orion has a tendency to either freeze or dive in without thinking. Judging from his state just now, it was the former. You may as well have gone alone."

By the end of the short speech, Frank's eyes had found his own shoes, but he had strength left to nod. "He froze first," he admitted lowly. "He came out of it, but…"

"But he automatically switched to the 'diving without thinking," Agil finished, and Frank nodded again. "Theseus…"

"I know," the elder Hardy brother sighed. "But Agil," he looked up, and took strength from the understanding he saw in his pseudo-elder brother's eyes. "Laughing Coffin… neither of us could have let them go. I don't know if anyone in Aincrad could have."

Agil nodded, but said quietly, "I just wish you would have messaged me. I would have come."

Frank promised, "Next time."

* * *

Neither of them said it, but both knew no matter how much they hoped otherwise, the odds of there being a next time far outweighed there not being one.

* * *

The Clearers took a day to plan and form up, but two days after they had discovered it, they moved on the Laughing Coffin headquarters. Fifty high level players - including Asuna, Kirito, Klein, and Agil - led by Heathcliff, Orion, and Theseus made up the crusade party. Their goal going in was simple: Wipe out the red guild. The Knights of the Blood Oath leader pressed that arrests were best, of course, but they didn't want to lose anyone. If that meant kill or be killed, then the former was always better.

"None of you," Heathcliff pointed out, "will become red players for killing a red player who's trying to kill you."

"It's self-defence," Frank put in, and the other Clearers nodded in understanding as they relaxed. Glancing towards the back of the group, though, revealed that Joe stood stiffly beside Agil. His brother hadn't been comfortable with the decision, but he also hadn't argued against it. Like all of them, he valued their own lives over that of serial killers. But if he had to kill someone in order to save himself… shaking his head, Frank turned away to lead Heathcliff and the party to the teleportation gate and beyond. He would just have to hope it didn't come down to that.

* * *

They should have known nothing could ever be easy. They had hoped, and in that hope, they weren't prepared for when Laughing Coffin leapt from the shadows of their headquarters and began slaughtering them one by one. Shouting, Heathcliff whirled around and beheaded one of the leading murderers. Kirito lunged past Frank with a growl, Klein and Asuna at his side.

"Theseus!" Joe screamed, and the elder Hardy brother spun around just in time to block an overhead sword blow with his staff. He quickly countered with a blow to the head, knocking the other player unconscious, only to take a hit to the back himself. Cursing, he snagged an arrow from his quiver and stabbed it low and back. Turning around, he found a Laughing Coffin member on the ground, arrow in his leg and his own staff beside him. Satisfied he was out for the count, Frank moved on to the rest of the fight.

All around him, the Clearers clashed with Laughing Coffin. Red pixels floated in the air, some from those still living and others seemingly from nowhere. Still, he could see green players refusing to make the killing blow. They were fine, though, because others stepped up to take out those who posed the greater threats, leaving them to corral and arrest those they could.

"Where's Orion?" came suddenly from his side, and Frank startled. Looking to his right, he came face to face with Agil.

"What do you mean, I thought he was with you?"

The axe-wielder shook his head. "We got separated in the ambush."

Frank cursed and dove back into the fray. It would have been safer to stick with Agil, but they would cover more ground separately.

"Orion!" he called, fastening his staff to a belt on his back in favour of drawing his bow. "Orion!" He fired off an arrow into another leg, wheeled around as he glimpsed wavy blonde hair in the corner of his eye, and - he froze.

Across half of the battlefield, his little brother fought desperately against one of the Laughing Coffin members they had seen just two nights ago. Orion's sword was gone, abandoned on the ground a meter away from the struggling pair. He had likely been disarmed by the longer, two-handed broadsword his opponent fought with; the same one that now threatened to overwhelm the long dagger Joe had drawn to replace his sword. Even as Frank watched, though, his brother gained the upper hand. His emotions had offset him at the beginning, but he had adjusted. Even short of his best, he was still more than a match for the Laughing Coffin member.

Orion's opponent struck out wildly and his blow went wide. It left him open for a clear counter-strike, but it was a killing one, and Frank knew in his bones that Joe wouldn't take it. Before his eyes, the blonde hesitated, his dagger dropped, and he opened himself for the same slash he had refused. It wasn't one the red player would miss.

It wasn't one Frank could miss.

* * *

Joe had recognised the Laughing Coffin member from the other night right away, and he wasn't afraid to admit it: It made him emotional in the fight. It made him angry, and that anger made him reckless until he wrestled it under control.

No anger could make him miss the arrow sprouting from his opponent's chest, or the way he exploded into red pixels. Around him, the battle had started to die down - only a single fight involving Kirito remained - but here and now, Joe swore his heart stopped. Even without turning around, he knew what he would see - or rather, who.

"Why?" he whispered.

"I can't lose you."

"Even if it means…?"

"I would kill every one of these bastards for you, Orion. Just like you would for me."

"You don't know that. How could you know that?"

"Because we're the Hardy Boys. And we're going to survive this, and we're going to go home and see Mom and Dad and Aunt Trudy and all our friends again. Because you want to say goodbye to Iola one last time. But most of all, because we both want to live. And we aren't living when there's only one of us."

Joe turned around, and felt his lips twitch upwards when his blue eyes met brown. "Thank you, Frank," he said softly, and let his brother draw him into a half hug.

* * *

As they walked back to the others, Frank drew away from Joe and let a darker expression take over his face. It stayed there for multiple reasons, even as they moved the captured Laughing Coffin members to the Black Iron Palace prison. One was that of the fifty players in the raiding party, eleven of them had died. Another was that twenty-one of the murderers had been killed and would never face true justice. But the main reason… the main reason was that he had killed one of them. He didn't regret it, couldn't regret it. If he hadn't taken the shot, Joe would be dead. But taking someone's life… it was a step that, in all his life, he had never taken. To do so for the first time, and without hesitation? It… well… it frightened him. Because he knew that, should he be faced with the same choice in the future, he would do it again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *NPC stands for "non-player character". In other words, they're part of the computer programming.


	4. The End of the World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Chapter title taken from SAO episode 1x14.

It took two weeks for Joe to throw his arms up in frustration at Frank's behaviour. The rest of the day after the Laughing Coffin raid, his older brother refused to leave his side and catered to his every need. The next, Frank was nowhere to be found until dinner, when he snapped at Joe that they were both grown men fully capable of living on their own. That continued into the afternoon of the third day, when Frank once again kept Joe within his sight at all times. The morning of the fifth day, the elder Hardy Boy was gone again. Joe was exasperated, but let the back and forth continue because he knew Frank was wrestling with something - likely the man he killed. He let it go, but when it reached the two week mark and he stood in the living room watching Frank head out the door an hour before sunset, the last bit of his patience sapped away.

"Frank!" Joe snapped, grabbing his older brother's arm as he passed. The muscle tensed, and the younger Hardy immediately released it. No matter how much this conversation was necessary, it shouldn't come at any expense. "Wait," he murmured, voice low.

"What?" the brown-haired man asked. "I was going to go hunting, so -"

"That's bullshit." Frank turned to eye him, one eyebrow raised, and Joe rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean. You may be going hunting, but we don't need the food right now. You're just trying to get away from me."

"If you know that, then why'd you stop me?"

Joe spluttered. If this confrontation had happened soon after the raid, he probably would have gone silent and let it go, still wrapped in the shock of his near death and taking safety from Frank's mere presence, unwilling to risk pushing him away. Now, though… now, Joe had withstood two weeks of Frank clinging and leaving, clinging and leaving, and he had had enough.

"I'm done!" he exploded, jabbing a finger into Frank's chest. "I get it, you're torn up over killing someone, well guess what! If you hadn't, I might not still be here! Maybe you wouldn't be! Did you ever consider that in a  _death_   _game_ , we have to do our best to live, no matter what? Did you ever consider that we're not just living for us? Huh? Did you? Cause we're not! We're living for each other! We're living for Agil! We're living for every sorry son of a bitch stuck in this hell, and for every friend and family member stuck waiting for our return! There's no time for you to self-destruct and rebuild yourself, or even to take the risk, because guess what, Frank? We. Need. You.  _I_ need you, and I'm not letting you go! So get your head back in the game any  _safe_  way you can and come back to us!"

Frank blinked at him, and Joe realised with a start that they were both crying.

"I didn't even hesitate," Frank whispered, and then they were sobbing in each other's arms.

His older brother wasn't whole or healed, Joe knew, but he was closer to it than he had been in two weeks, and he would take it. The rest would come outside of Aincrad, and holding Frank in his arms while tucking their heads close together, Joe knew he'd do anything to get there.

* * *

The month of September 2024 was better for everyone. The bosses for the floors were hard to defeat, but the Clearers focused on the challenge instead of the fact that they rapidly approached the two year mark for being trapped in Aincrad. With Laughing Coffin taken care of, they were able to focus even more, and after Joe's intercession, Frank finally felt himself relax. Clearing and simple, commissioned detective work filled the Hardy Boys' days as usual. Sure, Frank still felt pulled between two ends - one, to always keep Joe in sight and out of danger so as to never be forced to make such a choice again, and two, to push him away in the hopes that distance would allow him the ability to hesitate - but the knowledge that they were needed as the scarily in sync team they once were pushed those actions away. Before he knew it, they reached the middle of October and the 75th floor. Of course that was when Heathcliff decided to halt all momentum with a duel between the Knights of the Blood Oath leader and the beater Kirito.

* * *

Agil, Frank, Joe, Asuna, and Klein all attended the match in support of their friend. Being part of the crowd did nothing to help, though, and Joe flinched as he watched Kirito walk, defeated, out of the stadium. Before him, the sight shimmered into a car on fire and back again.

"Come on," Agil said, laying a hand on Orion's shoulder and squeezing - a reminder that he wasn't alone. "We may not be able to do much, but we can at least be there."

"Right," Frank murmured, shoulders hunched but staring straight ahead. "We're still here. We're not leaving."

Asuna and Klein looked between the three of them and shared a glance, shrugging. Neither of them knew what was happening, but -

"You heard the man!" Klein exclaimed cheerfully, pulling Theseus into a side-armed hug. "Let's go! Kirito always needs cheering up, so we're gonna need more cheer than usual…." He tapped a finger against his mouth, thinking. "Yep! There's nothing else. We're gonna have to act -"

Orion looked Klein in the eye, grinning, and chorused with him, "More moronic than normal!"

They both burst out laughing, while Theseus, Agil, and Asuna gaped at them. "That… what?" the elder Hardy murmured. "Are you both idiots?!"

He started forward, and Orion and Klein both dashed away, laughs echoing behind them. Frank ran after them shouting. With a start, Agil and Asuna realised they would quickly be left behind.

Looking at the vice-commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath, the shopkeeper grinned and asked, "Shall we?," gesturing towards their friends' backs.

Asuna nodded sharply and they both took off after them, Agil shouting for them to wait up.

* * *

Two weeks later, the 75th floor boss, Skull Reaper, burst into crystals, and Frank stared at where it stood and felt nothing. The ground was hard under his knees, and he realised dimly that in his exhaustion he had collapsed down to them. It didn't matter. Everyone else did the same; the one exception was Heathcliff, who somehow retained the strength to lean on his sword.

"Fourteen people died," someone said, and something pulses painfully in his chest. Frank thought it might be his heart. Fourteen dead… it took them fourteen people dying, plus the ten who died in the initial scouting party for this boss, to open the gate to floor 76.

Klein pointed out that they had twenty-five floors to go, and Agil wondered if they would ever reach the top, and now Frank's head started to pound. Would they ever reach the top… would they ever be free… would they -

A black coat flared in the corner of his eye, and Frank blinked to attention in time to see Kirito's sword connect with Heathcliff's chest. A sign flared to life marking the commander as an 'immortal object'. Joe shouted in surprise from his position on the floor beside Frank, and all around them others did the same.

Of course that couldn't be all. That was never the end of anything, and Frank should have known it before Kirito revealed Heathcliff to be Kayaba Akihiko, founder of  _Sword Art Online_ , and the man didn't even try to deny it. Frank should have… he shouldn't have left the discovery to a young teenager. He pushed to his feet, anger at himself and at Kayaba and at this entire world driving him.

A few meters away, a Knight of the Blood Oath also rushed to stand, but he immediately charged at Heathcliff. The commander, the  _bastard_  Frank spit in his own mind, even while he wasn't satisfied with the strength of the slur, acted like it was nothing. Instead, a simple pull-up of the system had the soldier and everyone else paralysed. Frank dropped back to his knees, barely able to manoeuvre himself leaning one way enough that when he fell completely, it was with a view of Kayaba. The paralysis stung, cold and biting, within his veins. It was the first pain Frank had felt in two years, and he hated it. It meant he was helpless, it meant he could do nothing, it meant he could only watch. In two years trapped in a digital world, it was the first time he had ever felt like that.

"Theseus," Joe murmured, and Frank realised with a start that, despite the paralysis, they could still talk.

"I'm still here," he replied, and at least he could still do that. He was still there. He hadn't left Joe alone. As he watched Kirito stand unparalyzed, as he watched Kayaba 'reward' the beater with a fight to the death, as he watched them both draw their weapons, that was all he could think. His only reassurance. He was still there. He hadn't left any of them alone.

* * *

Kirito told Asuna the fight was something he couldn't "run away from," and all Joe could think about was how much he and Kirito had in common.

Kirito told Agil he knew all about how he spent his earnings helping middle-level players improve, and Joe wished he could laugh at his eldest brother's face.

Klein heaved himself up on one arm, and Joe wished he could be that strong.

Kirito faced Kayaba alone, and Joe wished he could stand by his friend's side. He closed his eyes, focused with all his might, but all he could do was scream his support. Frank's voice echoed beside him, and the cavern rang with a dozen difference voices, and all Joe could do was wish he could do more.

He didn't want to lose another friend.

* * *

"Theseus," Agil murmured, and Frank turned to see his surrogate older brother staring at him with eyes serious, but steady.

"Agil," he replied.

The absence of his voice from the screams didn't lower the volume one bit, so he had to strain to make out even his own voice. Still, that didn't prevent him from hearing the other man's words as clear as a sword strike: "It's time, Theseus."

* * *

Asuna jumped in the way of a killing blow meant for Kirito, and all of the cheering support died with her. Joe's voice lay stunned in his throat, and all he could think about was how he hadn't wanted that to be something they shared.

And yet… Joe stared and saw Asuna cradled in Kirito's arms. He closed his eyes and saw flames. Kirito, no matter how horrible the circumstance, got to hold his love before she died. He said goodbye. Joe got a fight and Frank's arms around him, hauling him back, voice incomprehensible in his ear. Joe got her killer's hand slipping from his own to fall to his death, the unsatisfactoriness of neither killing him nor putting him in prison coating his tongue in ash, so deep and long lasting he could taste it even now.

Joe opened his eyes to stare at the stalled fight. No… no, that was the taste of jealousy. He gritted his teeth, angry at himself. Whatever comfort Kirito got from a proper goodbye, he lost in the knowledge that Asuna chose to die for him. Joe knew the feeling well. While Iola hadn't meant to, she had triggered the bomb in his own car. Both their loves had died in their place and nothing could make that right again. Just like Joe, Kirito would bear that emotional and mental scar for the rest of his life.

* * *

Kayaba remarked that Asuna's strength to fight the paralysis was impressive, and Joe wanted to scream. Of course she did. The strength to fight for a loved one… that was a strength that was only beaten by being blown to pieces.

* * *

The scream finally came when Kayaba stabbed Kirito and his friend returned the favour, rising like a volcanic explosion.  _Blown to pieces_ , he noted numbly.  _Blown to pieces_.  _Pieces are all they have and pieces are all they are. Pieces. Pieces…_

* * *

"As of 2:55 PM, November 7, the game has been cleared. The game has been cleared."

* * *

Orion died, and Joe woke up with the NerveGear* heavy on his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *NerveGear is shaped like a helmet, and what connects players to the virtual reality of Aincrad and SAO.


	5. The Survivors

The ceiling was hospital white. Shifting where he lay, Joe reached down to heave himself upright. It took him two more tries than he'd readily admit, but he eventually managed to sit up and remove his NerveGear. Looking towards the door, he found his first assessment had been accurate: he was in a private hospital room.

"Joe?" someone rasped. Turning around, he stared at a second bed in shock. They hadn't truly spoken in so long he hadn't even recognised the pained voice.

Remembering how hard it had been to move the first time, he didn't try to walk over. Instead, he placed his feet on the ground and used the bed to shove himself forward. "Frank!" he cried, tears streaming down his face as he barrelled into his older brother's arms. "We're out… we're out and alive…"

"We're alive," Frank echoed, and sank backwards into his pillows while bringing Joe with him.

* * *

A few minutes later, a pair of nurses and a doctor barrelled into the room to interrupt their reunion. When Joe had moved from his bed, the cords monitoring his heart rate had come off and set off a flat lining alert. The younger Hardy Boy knew he should cooperate for the hospital staff - after all, they had essentially been asleep for two years - but he refused to be moved from Frank's bed. For one thing, he'd used up the little strength he had transferring over the first time and had little desire to be carried back. Mostly, though… mostly, his now long hair was stuck to his face with tears, his fingers wouldn't unlock from his older brother's shirt, and Frank's arm was still wrapped around his back. He wasn't going anywhere.

Instead, the Hardy Boys allowed themselves to be manoeuvred side by side on Frank's bed, shoulders squished together, and patiently sat through tests. At one point a commotion started in the hall, but Joe couldn't make out any words and the staff told them not to worry. It was weird to let even a small mystery like that go by, but his eyelids were taking longer and longer to open after each blink. Someone - Frank, he thought, based on the thin, weak fingers - reached down and squeezed his hand. Joe closed his eyes and slipped into sleep.

* * *

Frank smiled, just a small tilt of the lips, down at his brother. They had been asleep for years and almost the first thing Joe did was go back to sleep. Still, it didn't surprise him when he took stock of his own body. His muscles were weak, his lungs moved slowly, and just squeezing Joe's hand robbed him of strength. Taking into further consideration the emotional release of escaping a death game and their reunion… Frank closed his eyes and allowed himself to pass out.

* * *

When Frank woke up again, his shoulder was wet with drool and heavy with Joe's head. He huffed a laugh. Immediately, a screech filled the room and the elder Hardy startled, hand making the motions to call his bō staff to life. The main menu failed to appear. Frank blinked and stared at his hand, then down at Joe, then around the room. He had forgotten they cleared SAO, but the sight of his parents and Aunt Trudy staring at him, standing in front of chairs that had obviously been shoved back, brought the memory back quickly.

"I-" he started, but as his eyes met his mother's, he found himself unable to continue. A sob rose in his throat, but he swallowed it down. His family must have been so worried about him. Still must be. He couldn't add to that, couldn't give them yet another reason. "I-" he began again, only to find himself pulled up from the bed and wrapped in his father's arms.

"Frank," Aunt Trudy said, voice hitching. He felt her hand on his arm, felt his mother's arm across his shoulders, felt Joe stirring beside him.

"Mom?" Joe whispered, voice filled with a wonder that should never come from just seeing your own mother. The youngest Hardy lurched upright into the group hug, and they all broke down crying.

Frank distantly wondered how many more times he would cry. And yet, the majority of him… the majority of him would give anything to stay right there in that moment forever. Free from SAO, from worry, from guilt, from everything but the warmth and voices of his family.

* * *

Of course no moment lasts forever. Two weeks later, the Hardy Boys had gained enough strength back that their family was comfortable taking them home from what turned out to actually be a nursing facility for coma patients, as they had no life threatening injuries that required hospitalisation.

When they reached their house, Frank locked himself and Joe in his room. Thankfully, his laptop was right where he had left it, charger and all. Their family had refused to let them see any news on other SAO survivors while at the facility. It might have been to simply avoid reminders, but Frank's instincts told him otherwise. The betrayal of even Heathcliff told him anyone could keep secrets. Of course he hoped to be proven wrong. He wanted his doubts and worry put to rest. He wanted Joe to stop looking, not out their window, but at a wall, as if he could see through it all the way to Japan and their friends. He wanted to know his pseudo brother was alright. But of course, his instincts - always great as a detective, and honed over two years fighting to survive each day - rarely led him astray.

Frank read the article titles that popped up in his search quietly, then angled his laptop so Joe could see.

"Sword Art Online Survivors Wake Up!"

"Chaos in Hospitals All Over Japan"

"6,000 Coma Patients Awaken With SAO Cleared, 4000 Dead"

Those were alright. Those were expected. It was the others that bothered him.

"300 SAO Players Mysteriously Trapped"

"Trapped SAO Players: Dead or Alive?"

And finally, almost a year ago: "ALfheim Online Bravely Becomes Next VRMMO Game".

"Three hundred," Joe murmured.

Frank didn't bother replying; he knew they were both thinking the same thing. Instead, he searched for a name Agil had given him as they watched Kirito and Heathcliff fight: Andrew Gilbert Mills. All the man had said to go with it was that "it's time," but Frank knew the meaning behind it: so they could find each other again.

* * *

"Hello?" A gruff voice answered the phone.

Frank paused, but eventually decided to greet, "Agil."

"Theseus! Is that you?"

The elder Hardy let out a laugh; the older man got it too. It didn't matter if they no longer wanted to be Agil and Theseus. Aincrad had planted seeds in them that grew roots too strong and deep to pull out easily. They might manage to be Andrew and Frank on occasion, but it would take time before even those names meant the same to them as they did to the families they had rejoined. And yet at the same time…

Joe nudged him, and Agil asked, "Theseus? You there?"

"Yeah…" Frank finally said. "Yeah, I'm here. So's Orion." He paused, looked to Joe, and added, "Joe. Orion's name is Joe."

Agil took a moment, then continued, "Orion isn't Joe anymore than you're Frank or I'm Andrew."

The words had a sense of finality to them, but… "We won't make any progress otherwise. I… we're Frank and Joe. We have to be, for our own sakes. I-"

Joe made a face and grabbed his arm, trying to get to the phone. Frank frowned and shook his head, so Joe just leaned in close instead and hollered, "Orion Orion Orion Or-"

"Shut up, Orion," Agil and Frank both laughed. Their youngest leaned back again, beaming. He had made his point. To those outside of their circle, they were Andrew, Frank, and Joe, but to each other… to each other, the names Agil, Theseus, and Orion held safety with them. A bit of familiarity that meant swords and pixel blood and death; a bit of familiarity that meant the shop and protection and hugs. It meant bad things, but it had good interspersed in there as well. And that bit of good was worth hanging on to.

"Andrew," Andrew said. "You can call me Andrew."

They could fight for that bit of good as Andrew, Frank, and Joe to make that good grow and overcome the Aincrad roots. They could make those names mean more to each other than Agil, Theseus, and Orion. If they wanted to live again, they would have to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end! I had a great time writing this fic, and I hope you all enjoyed reading it just as much! As always, please comment - and subscribe to this fic, cause it might not be done yet! There are a few things that I thought I would write and ended up not, since this seemed as good a place to end the fic as any.
> 
> Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> \- I have seen the show (SAO), but I haven't read the manga and I don't play regular video games. Any details here are drawn from the show, the wiki, fanfics I've read, and my own imagination. Apologies if it isn't entirely accurate.
> 
> \- Some lines have been taken directly from the SAO anime. I've tried to use as few as possible, but if you recognise them, that's why.
> 
> Thank you for reading, and please comment! I had a great time writing this fic, and I'd love to know what you all think!


End file.
